PANTHER PRESS

February 7, 2020

PANTHER PRESS

February 7, 2020

Panther Success Graduate

Alfonso Espinoza is the first student in 2020 to graduate from the Panther Success program. Alfonso moved to Knoxville first semester and needed only a few credits to earn his high school diploma; therefore, the Panther Success program was a great fit. Alfonso hopes to enter college and study to be a college professor in the area of technology.

Additionally, Panther Success students had a great first semester finishing a total of 59 classes, and graduating two students. Alfonso is the 3rd graduate this year, and the program anticipates more graduates second semester. Congratulations, Alfonso and the rest of the Panther Success students!

Politics and Play-Doh

Students in Mr. Gibbons's Intro to Psych class were retesting an old psych study to see how the perception impacts people's choice in a political candidate. They asked students and staff to pick which person looked most competent between 2 individuals. Students were surprised that most times they would pick the candidate who actually won the race, based off of only seeing a picture.

In Mr. Gibbons's biology class are using Play-Doh to model molecules found in the human body and our diets to see how they transform when we eat food. The goal was to see if a person could survive on eating just sugar or starches.

Wrestling competes at Sectionals in Albia on Saturday, February 8 at 1200 PM

We will host Districts in our high school gym on Saturday, February 15 at 1200 PM

Boys Swimming competes at Districts in Marshalltown on Saturday, February 8 at 1200 PM

Girls & Boys Bowling competes at the State Qualifying Meet in Pleasant Hill on Tuesday, February 18 at 100 PM

Our Girls Basketball team is currently 17-1 overall; 11-0 in the conference! Our girls are also ranked #15 in the latest Class 4A poll! Boys Basketball is 11-6 overall; also 8-3 in the conference! Postseason dates and opponents for our girls and boys basketball teams will be released next week!

Varsity Football 2020!

The Iowa High School Athletic Association just released some information on Varsity football scheduling for the 2020 season. In the past, Varsity football schedules were scheduled on a 2-year cycle. Scheduling for the 2020 season will be for 1-year only and then re-evaluated around this time next year. Our Class 3A district for 2020 includes: Bondurant-Farrar, Carlisle, Pella, Nevada, and North Polk. Our complete 2020 Varsity football schedule should be released sometime in mid to late March.

Logo Committee Update!

Our Logo Committee had our third and final meeting with Letterman Creative on Wednesday, February 5. At our December 18 meeting, they had presented us with options and based on our feedback - made some minor revisions to the logo system and fonts and then presented those to us at our February 5 meeting. We should have the final logo system product in the near future and will be presented to the school board in March for final approval.

All home events in the Knoxville High School gym and all school concerts in KPAC will be streamed LIVE on the NFHS Network! Go to www.nfhsnetwork.com for more details!

Get schedules for all extra-curricular middle school and high school activities by going to www.knoxville.k12.ia.us and then clicking on "Activity Calendar". You can even sign-up for email notifications so whenever we make a change to a schedule - you can be notified immediately.

Seventh grade life skills we are talking about personal identity. Students are discovering strengths and weakness they have and how they can use them. We are moving on to friends, cliques, and bullies.

Eighth grade has just finished a unit on boundaries and personal space. We talked about what kind of boundaries they have and how big they are. Students also talked about how they let others know how big their personal space is and what to do when their space is invaded. The next unit they will be working on is cyberbullying.

Celebrating School Counselors

National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), will be celebrated February 3-7, 2020 to bring attention to the unique contribution of professional school counselors. National School Counseling Week highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and graduate college and career ready.

School counselors are actively engaged in helping students examine their abilities, strengths, interests and talents; work in a partnership with parents as they encounter the challenges of raising children in today's world; focus on positive ways to enhance students' social/personal, educational and career development; and work with teachers and other educators to provide an educational system where students can realize their potential and set healthy, realistic and optimistic aspirations for themselves. Professional school counselors are certified, experienced educators with a master's degree in school counseling. The combination of their training and experience makes them an integral part of the total educational program.

Knoxville Community School District has a strong team of professional school counselors who work with students every day. Be sure to thank the school counselors for everything they do!

West Elementary: Ruthann Burkman

Northstar Elementary: Traci Lee

Middle School: Deb Ellerman & Corrie Sass

High School: Carolyn Jones & Doug Hatch

Hard Surface Routes

With winter weather upon us and road conditions changing, we may require our buses to run “HARD SURFACE” only. Here is the link, Hard Surface Routes, to see where your student would be picked up. It will be communicated over local radio and GovDelivery alerts.

It’s time to think spring...and fall school health requirements! NOW is the time to schedule physicals, dental appointments, eye exams and immunization updates. Here are some highlights of various requirements for fall:

Will you have students in the following grades in the Fall 2020? If so, here’s what they’ll need:

You've Got Mail!

Families of students in grades 4-12 will be receiving student results from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP). The test was given last spring to all students in Iowa public schools. Student test results will be mailed with 1st semester report cards.

This guide can assist you in understanding how your child is learning in the areas of English Language Arts and math. Students who were in grades 5, 8, and 11, last school year will also have information about their learning in science.

If you have questions please contact your child's teacher, principal, or Allison Emery, Director of Teaching and Learning, 641.842.6551.

Subscribe or Update Your Notifications for Weather Alerts

Knoxville Schools utilizes GovDelivery to communicate weather cancellations, delays and/or changes to district activities. We recommend all parents/guardians sign up to receive email and/or text notifications. Anyone is welcome to subscribe, including community members interested in schedule changes for activities purposes.

If you signed up in the past for this service, you do not need to sign up again but you will need to adjust notifications if your child changed to a different school building this year.

Estimated property tax impact to fund key projects less than originally expected

The Knoxville Community School District Board of Education has approved a general bond referendum question that will appear on a special election ballot Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

The question will ask voters to approve the first phase of the district's facilities improvement plan, at a total cost of $26.25 million. If approved, the 20-year bond would have a net property tax impact of $8.79 per month on a $100,000 home, $18.53 per month on a $200,000 home and $28.08 per month on a $300,000 home.

These tax impact numbers are lower than the district and board previously expected. An approved bond would place KCSD's levy rates in the middle of comparable districts in the area—and still less than Carlisle, Melcher-Dallas, Pleasantville and Indianola.

"We are very pleased that we have found a potential solution to our facilities needs that will limit the property tax impact on our community members," said Cassi Pearson, KCSD Superintendent. "We look forward to continuing an open and transparent process that began with 20 community members on a taskforce that created the proposal to address the needs. Over 430 residents have signed the petition to call for the March 3 Referendum that could fund the necessary projects."

Phase I of the plan would include a new Knoxville Middle School building, along with air conditioning for Northstar Elementary and an HVAC system upgrade at Knoxville High School. Construction on these projects would take place between 2020 and 2022.

Phase II would be funded through the use of the one-penny sales tax (known as SAVE). It would

include an extensive renovation to Northstar Elementary and athletic facility improvements throughout the district. Construction on these projects would be scheduled for 2022 to 2024.

To learn more about KCSD's facility needs, five-year plan, and the March 3 bond referendum, please visit the Knoxville School’s website at www.knoxville.k12.ia.us.

Knoxville CSD Board Information

The Knoxville CSD Board of Directors is committed to Ensuring a Culture of Excellence for Every Student. Community members and visitors are welcome to attend our meetings on the second and fourth Monday each month at 5:30 p.m.

The primary purpose of our board meetings is to conduct business. An official meeting is the only means by which we, as a board can carry out our legal duties or exercise our legal powers. These meetings provide an opportunity for decision-making and offer an opportunity for the public and school district staff to establish a formal dialogue with us. Postings of these meetings are placed on the district website, www.knoxville.k12.ia.us. Please visit often to be informed.

Choose Knoxville

Deadlines for filing for open enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year:

March 1, 2020 for 1st—12th grade

September 1, 2020 for Kindergarten

Please call Lisa at the District Office for additional questions @ 641-842-6551, opt.1.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor

Neighbor helping Neighbor is every Monday - Wednesday from 1-3pm and is located at the First United Methodist Church activities center downtown. They have vouchers for food, personal care items, toilet paper, laundry detergent, and diapers at times.

End of the Month Meals

The End of the Month Meal program or E.O.M.M. was started in 2002 and is a not-for-profit organization and can only continue as long as generous people are willing to donate their money, time, can food items, or grocery gift cards. Any of these donations may be dropped off at New Covenant Church at 1510 West Madison Knoxville, Iowa. If you send a check please make it out to New Covenant Church and put “E.O.M.M. program” in the memo section.

We send out our deliveries from New Covenant Church 1510 West Madison. If people would like to have their meals delivered to them please call the church office at 641-842-3176 preferably the week before we start serving meals so that we can have an idea of how much food we need to prepare. The only information we need to have is your name, address, a phone number where we can reach you, and the number of meals you would like to have.

If you prefer to dine out you are more than welcome to go to the Jenkins Center on Main Street. We provide the casserole and vegetable or salad, whichever is on the meal plan and the people from Living Word Fellowship provides the dessert, coffee, and excellent service. No questions asked.

Our meals typically consist of a casserole for the entrée, a dinner roll, a hot vegetable, or a cold “salad” (these are flip-flopped each meal) , and a dessert. I also like to have a sandwich meal at least twice during the season. This would consist of a Manwich burger, scalloped corn, cole slaw, and a dessert. Our meals are “comfort food” and are good sized portions because nobody should go hungry.

These are the dates for the 2019-2020 season:

February: 17th-21st

March: 23rd-27th

If anyone has questions or would like to have someone talk about our program please E-mail shiloh1971@hotmail.com.

Marion County Food Coalition Calendar & Information

Marion County General Assistance M-F 8-4:30pm, Located in the Marion County Courthouse

IMPACT Community Action - Food Cards to Fareway/Hy-Vee to be used every 6 months. *indicates food distribution day

Food Share Mobile Food Pantry: 3rd Wednesday of the month

Attica Mobile Pantry 10-10:30

Harvey 10-10:25

End of the Month Meals: New Covenant Church 315 E. Main St. Knoxville 5-545pm: Feb. 17-21

Invest Vote YES

The Knoxville Invest Vote YES Committee is dedicated to rallying the community surrounding the Knoxville Community School District to vote YES on March 3, 2020 to pass a bond vote for facility projects. Please enjoy our video below and like and follow us on our Facebook page!

Invest Vote YES - March 3, 2020

KCSD ADMIN. OFFICE

The Panther Press is a weekly collective newsletter for parents & community members. If you have an article or flyer to share, please submit to Lisa.Willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us for consideration.

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